White Walls and Broken Hearts
by snowharvester
Summary: She's not insane, she just wanted to be alone. There's solitude in the four walls she was placed in and the shade of white slowly consumed her but he's a guy with white hair who had scars all over his body who gave her hope in the place of despair. Modern AU Warning: may contain OOC, depression themed and use of drugs implied. Reviews are appreciated and boosts the writer's morale.
1. Chapter 1

**White Walls and Broken Hearts**

**-;-**

* * *

><p>One...<p>

Two...

One... Two... Three... Four

The four white walls were bare.

Threatening to close in around her but at the same time, it made everything looked so big. How long has it been? A week? Two weeks? Oh... it's been four months and a half. No one had ever expected someone like her to be placed in a facility like this.

_'Such a smart and polite girl'_

_'Never thought she would act out like that!'__  
><em>  
>They make it sound like she killed someone or hurt another person. She wasn't crazy or even shown any signs of insanity. The doctors who brought her here just gave her a pretty decent and believable diagnosis.<p>

She was clinically depressed. _Melancholic depression_, they said.

Everyone in her family was shocked when they heard of it, they asked amongst themselves as to what could've gone wrong. Many would indeed wonder why the eldest daughter that came from the rich family can be brought down by such an illness. Before she was moved here, she heard one of the maids of their large manor whisper that she was just seeking attention. She wanted anger to flare out, yell at the ignorant woman and tell her to mind her own business. But instead, she just shrugged and went about her way.

Tired.

She always felt so tired even though she never did anything strenuous. She can only harness enough energy to smile whenever _she's_ around. Her sweet, clumsy little sister.

The same sister her parents had shipped off to boarding school because she fell for a hockey jock named Kristoff. Her mother was lenient but her father was incensed; he stormed and cursed about how Anna was throwing her life- her future, away for some below middle-class boy who wasn't even close to their social standing.

_'You should be more like Elsa!'_ he bellowed at her.

She had never seen Anna so heartbroken with that statement. Every day in their lives, they had been compared to each other even though they hated it. She was the doted one, the intelligent, poised, elegant platinum blond daughter who would make the perfect trophy wife for some rich man. Anna was headstrong, clumsy and impulsive and she never put her foot in her mouth often times which got her into trouble.

The nineteen year old girl shifted her position on the bed. Her stomach grumbled, it's nearly lunchtime after all. A bell rang outside her door and it opened to reveal a woman in her early twenties with creamy skin, dirty blond hair and clear blue eyes wearing a white uniform with a blue ribbon that tied her hair into a knot.

This one's new.

"Hi Elsa" she greeted "My name's Ella. I hope we can be friends."

Elsa stared at her with a blank face before she stood up and placed on the white fuzzy slippers. The white gown, the white plastic band around her wrist that stated her name and patient number and the white slippers... she started to really hate that colour. Or was it a shade?

Before she was committed here, she had no time to ponder on mundane and trivial questions. Ella was a kind woman; she tried to make small talks with her which she might've appreciated if she wasn't so hungry or too immersed with her own thoughts.

The mess hall was painted in soft cream that was pleasing to her eyes and their food trays were given to them with each of their prescribed medicines. Elsa took her tray and sat on the farthest bench that had a window next to it. It was her table. With the window, she could at least look outside and daydream about life beyond the bars and the locked doors.

Her life before this can't really be called living, it was more of enduring. And when her parents took Anna out of the equation, she just gave out. _Why bother?_ What's the point of having straight A's and scholarship grants? What's the point of attending those pointless debutant balls and high-end parties when the only person she truly loved was not there with her?

She has familial love for her parents, it's a genetic make-up. But they were never in the same level as Anna was. They never once asked her what she wanted to do or what she dreams for her own future because they had mapped it out for her. Well, her father did. Her mom tried her best to try and connect with her daughter but Elsa had placed a concrete wall around her and only Anna was permitted to go through it.

There was a stirring in the air.

Elsa slowly bit into her green apple and watched in silence. Blue eyes surveyed the area; the red curly haired girl about her age was playing with her food while talking to the twitching scrawny boy with a messy mop of brown hair. If her memory was correct, the girl's called Merida and the brunette was Hiccup, quite an unfortunate name.

She hadn't socialized with them and besides the group sharing time, she had never spoke a single word to any other occupants. The doors opened and it seems that Ella wasn't the only one new in this place.

_White_

The newcomer had white hair; it was like a big cosmic joke. It was obvious that it was dyed, his eyebrows were dark brown and he's younger than her, maybe a year or two. His shoulders were slumped and his face scrunched up in distaste. His blue eyes were like the sky, vast and bright but for a second; she thought she saw loneliness in them. Those liquid sky eyes roamed across the hall, ignoring Merida and Hiccup who were openly gawking at him before his eyes settled to her direction.

She dropped her gaze.

Suddenly, the mashed potatoes with peas were the most interesting things she had ever seen since she got here. The air that fluttered through the window cooled her face; beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead. It was unusually humid for autumn, winter was just around the corner and the temperature was as hot as it was in the middle of summer.

Elsa daintily held on her plastic spoon and scooped the battered vegetable to her mouth. It was bland, needs seasoning, she thought. Everything that was given to them tasted like paper and the staff made sure that there are no pointed objects that can potentially hurt themselves or anyone. This was a private health facility and only the patients whose parents or family members that can pay top dollar could be admitted here. Security and privacy are their top priority, especially since some of the people in here were well-known for their family names or the things they had done before they landed in this place. Such as the case of Hiccup Haddock who was a young inventor. He was at his prime before he suffered a breakdown.

And since the juvenile hall was way across town from here, he must be one of them as well. She subtly lifted her gaze and studied the oddball. He grabbed a lunch tray and took his helpings of the mashed potato and a cup of soup. She never knew there was soup there before.

Then, he started walking. He walked past Merida and Hiccup, past the two chubby twins, past a young boy who played with the potatoes by his hands and the older man who was whispering gibberish to himself all the while pretending to pour invisible tea to a nonexistent cup.

Her lips pursed as he got closer and closer to her table. There was an unwritten law that no one should ever approach her. Her icy glares were enough to send others walking to the other direction and her cold demeanor can rival the harshest snowstorms of Antarctica. Beneath the fair face that was framed by golden braided tresses hid a darker side. An inner Elsa that wanted nothing more than be alone and cover herself in the shadows.

But the boy wasn't deterred. In fact, he took her glare as a challenge and even smirked at her. The glower intensified and if looks could kill, he would've been six feet down the earth a couple of times by now.

He didn't even ask her permission; he just placed his tray across hers and sat down like it was his place since the beginning of time.

She put her spoon down and gave him one last glare. This spot was hers and no one can just take it away. But he didn't return the glare; he solely focused on the food in front of him. Seeing him up close gave her a chance to study him.

He was thin. There were bandages that wrapped his wrists and around his neck that extended down underneath his white shirt.

_What was he in for?_

"Take a picture, it'll last longer"

An irate voice forced her to move her eyes up to his face. He was sickly pale, like he hadn't set foot outside his house. Thin lips were dry and chapped and his eyes were surrounded by dark circles. It was now unclear whether the whiteness of his hair was dyed or not because she can't see the roots. Some of his eyelashes were white as well. His mouth twitched in an empty grin. It was a mask and he didn't know that she can see through the masks most people wore.

He held out his bony right hand and it drifted to her tray towards the apple she was eating.

Without thinking, she slapped his hand away and pulled her tray closer to her. It was an action of animalish instinct, a sorry sight to see; being possessive over an apple. "You have your own food" she softly hissed like a snake.

Her voice sounded hoarse since she hadn't spoke for a long time and her throat had itched to utter more words. The last time she had spoken to anyone other than her psychiatrist was with her mother. She hadn't talked to her father once even when they visited her three times a week, but they became less frequent. They hadn't seen her for almost two weeks now...

But then, her forgotten companion snickered and retracted his hand, "Didn't know you can talk. Heh, I didn't even think you can move at all."

"So sorry I disappointed you then" she spoke up. He was too easy-going, too friendly. Elsa wasn't too keen on having someone like him too close to her. Overly bubbly people gave her headaches and this guy was already was already pushing his luck with her.

His hair colour was irritating enough as it is and when he opened his mouth it was akin to a thousand bumbling bees that flew all around her ears. _Buzz... buzz... buzz_

_Where's the can of bug spray?_

All eyes were on them now.

Even the security cameras were being focused on both of them; it was disconcerting to see someone sitting on her table let alone talk to her. Everyone; the staff, her fellow patients even the janitors know that she wanted to be left alone. And if this delinquent thinks he could just charm his way to her, she would love to prove him wrong.

"The name's Jack" he said, clearly not knowing what was going on in her mind and even offered her a smile which she didn't even try to return. Instead, she stood up, grabbed the tiny plastic cup of her medicines and walked to the other table next to the water cooler.

He didn't stand from his seat; he only watched her through half-closed eyes before he returned to his meal and ate it in silence.

* * *

><p>There were times she just wanted to scream and yell but all she ended up doing was quietly sob against her pillow and her body curled up into a tight little ball. Hopelessness and loneliness ate her consciousness as her wretched brain brought forth the pictures of Anna in her head. She terribly missed her. It wasn't like she's dead or anything but being separated from her and the uncertainty of whether she will see her ever again was frightening.<p>

She should've drunk her pills; her sudden crying fits can take a toll to her body.

There was a buzz just outside her door. It wasn't mealtime so it meant another thing; therapy. Her sessions were tolerable at best, most of the time they were just filled with lengthy silences and her therapist, Belle Gold was a patient and genuinely kind and gentle young woman. There were times, when Elsa's in the mood, they would have conversations that revolved around from literature to politics and finally to storybooks. No matter how old they were, they both enjoyed reading the classic fairy tales. Belle wasn't the cookie-cut psychiatrist type. She didn't wear a white coat or wore a pair of glasses and wrote on the clipboard every single time Elsa opened her mouth.

The door opened and a woman with rich chocolate brown hair and intelligent baby blue eyes that shone even under the dim light of her room. The sparkle of her wedding band hurt Elsa's eyes. It was as if it was mocking her about the fact that she may never get married.

Belle gave her a dimpled smile before she pulled out her chair and sat on it with her shoulder bag placed on the floor. Elsa leaned forwards and peeked at the crag of her door. There was always an orderly that stood in front of the doorway during their sessions. It was laughable to be extremely cautious in the presence of a nineteen year old teenager who weighed less than a hundred pounds.

"So," the brunette started, "What's going on?"

"... the same" she muttered. "Every day's the same. We all move by the clock."

It's true.

They lived in a place where the schedule must be followed down to the last second. The staff would scatter like ants if something or someone caused any delay from their oh-so-precious routine.

Belle hummed before she straightened her long skirt and folded her hands on her lap. "How have you been lately?"

_There goes the first routinely question.__  
><em>  
>She shrugged, "I don't know. Everything's... the same."<p>

Belle's eyebrow rose in suspicion, "Is that all?"

Of course not.

She felt empty inside. Her parents think she's looking for attention when she clearly didn't want that. They should've focused more on Anna and let her figure things out for herself. She felt like a bird in a golden cage, pampered but not free and they expected her to sing a happy tune?

She always felt tired and there were days where she just wanted to lie on the bed and sleep. The last time she did that, the orderlies hauled her into the showering area and dumped a bucket of cold water on her, shocking her senses into hyper drive. They should be thankful that she didn't tell her patents about it.

But then again, she wasn't a crybaby who would whine at the slightest discomfort. She can't keep the mask of mock contentment forever and when she showed them the face of the person underneath the fake smiles and expensive clothes, they were horrified.

The woman in front of her tapped her fingertips against her arm before she scooted closer and laced her fingers together, "You know Elsa, you have to open up to me sooner or later. Don't you want to leave this place and be reunited with your family?"

There was an urge to laugh at the woman's face but she spared her from that, she's depressed not insane. So she settled with a noncommittal shrug and answered, "My only family's halfway around the world right now. And I actually prefer to stay here."

"And why is that?" Belle inquired, her tone hitched slightly at the possibility that her silent patient would open to her. Elsa smirked in her thoughts; the woman didn't know that she was using reverse-psychology on her. No sane person would ever want to stay here. And if a patient told them that they wanted to remain in their cages for the rest of their lives, the doctors will their damn best to make sure they won't.

"I like it here; I can be alone... most of the time."

Belle sighed and crossed her legs, it was her 'professional pose', she only does that when she means business. She adjusted the collar of her beige blouse and grabbed her clipboard from her bag.

"The doctors here told me you don't participate in your group therapy sessions. We placed you in that program to help you sweetie, why won't you talk to other people here. Some of them are in your age group after all. Maybe you'll find a friend?"

It made her feel guilty to feel the desire to crush the hopeful tone in Belle's voice. She never liked group therapies, the room was too suffocating and all eyes were on her when it was her turn. They all knew that she wanted to be left alone but her parents urged the doctors to include her no matter how unwilling she was to participate. She once heard her mother talking to the doctor in the office.

_"Elsa needs this; she doesn't have any friends except her sister. She's like a baby bird and birds were meant to leave their nests and I won't let anyone indulge her of this madness."_

Apparently her mother had never seen the broken bodies of dead baby chicks that lay on the side of the paved roads. Anna used to cry at their plight and she would pat her sister's head to calm her down and point at the other birds that flew to the sky.

She bristled when Belle placed a warm hand against her cold ones but she calmed down after thinking that the other woman genuinely cared for her. Most of the psychiatrists she had encountered all cared for one green, merciless god; Money. All they had to do was see a patient, write their diagnosis on paper, give a few pills and repeat it, all the while getting paid hundreds of dollars without any guarantee that the patient will get any better.

Belle was different. Elsa could just sense it; she doesn't wear a mask or assert dominance over her which was a good start for both of them. Finally, Belle checked her watch and stood up.

"I'll see you next week Elsa. For now, try and make some friends. You might meet someone here interesting and you can talk to them."

Elsa highly doubted that. The only time she can truly be herself was within the space of these four walls. The sound of the door being locked echoed in her room and silence enveloped her once again.

Then, there was a thump on the wall next to her bed. It was the sound of someone knocking and Jack's voice flowed through the paper thin wall "So your name's Elsa huh. German?"

Her lips formed a straight line and sat back on the middle of her bed. The sound came from the left side near her pillows so she pushed her pillow against the wall to try and see if it will muffle the outside noises. So he was her new neighbour, oh joy.

She loved her room because it was quiet; the only one that had no nearby patients whose voices carried. This was her sanctuary, her safe place; it _was._

The pillows did nothing because she still heard him talking on his side, "You know it's not really a crime to talk."

"It should be if you're the one doing the talking" she retorted in spite of herself. Snickers erupted from his room, she amused him for some reason; either that or because she was the only one who was next to his room. There were only two or three occupants on the east wing, she, Merida and now Jack apparently.

"Don't like group therapy huh?" he said, attempting to start a conversation between them. Elsa lay on her side, her back facing the wall and lifted her knees to her chest in a curled form.

"It's uncomfortable. I don't like sharing my thoughts with everyone else. Now be quiet, I'm trying to sleep."

She heard a sound that sounded like metal springs squeaking and his voice sounded so near like he was right beside her. "Sleep? It's only three-thirty I think."

She rolled to her back and glared at the ceiling, something about him made it impossible for her to ignore. In her old school, there were a lot of annoying people but she can drown them out. Then this white-haired boy came and cracked that barrier with a sledgehammer. "Yes, I want to sleep." she snapped.

He gave a low whistle and for a few moments, there was sweet silence. Until he asked, "Do you think they can paint this wall a different colour?"

She blinked before she sighed and answered, "No. White is the uniformed colour of this kind of place other than general hospitals."

"Well, if I get to paint this room, I think blue's gonna stick. What about you Helga?"

She knew her ears went red and irritation flared, "My name is _Elsa._ And for your information I'm not German, my parents came from Norway."

"Oh..." he breathed out before he jumped back to their conversation, "What would you paint your room if you're given the chance?"

Elsa tried to imagine the colours her room would be like. She liked cold hues of blue and turquoise; pastel colours just hurt her eyes and it reminded her of Anna a bit too much.

"I like blue..."

"That's cheating, I said blue first!" he whined. A small grin crept up her face, though she didn't notice the atypical gesture. He was a childish person and he wasn't as annoying as she originally thought.

"Well I like blue as well. You can't just own a colour just because you said you liked it first."

"What if I made my own shade of blue and they'll have to name it after me?"

"I wouldn't hold my breath to that" she scoffed.

They spent the whole afternoon talking about colours.

* * *

><p><strong>-;-<strong>

A/N: It's originally a oneshot but it would be too long to read so I divided it.

This is based on my own personal experience with depression and I would like to thank _sweetangel014_ for helpful materials to aid me into writing this piece.

The character Ella was actually Cinderella, I just used her real name from the Brothers Grimm version and Once Upon a Time fans will see a reference here and there. The slight OOC-ness are important, I want to give the characters a bit more twost and I will try to retain their original personalities as best as I can.

As usual, Read and **REVIEW.** I don't know if you liked this or not and I usually take down stories I deemed too weak to continue. And no flames.


	2. Chapter 2

After that, things were different.

Not big things but small hardly significant things. Like how she never noticed the bird's nest that was perched outside the window of the mess hall until Jack whispered it to her. Or there was a blind spot on the security camera that was placed between their rooms and that the janitor with a thick handlebar moustache nursed a soft spot for one of the staff.

She was still uncomfortable of his presence.

He kept pushing into her comfort zone and he didn't seem to mind her sometimes snappish retorts and sharp replies whenever she found him worming into places he's not welcome. She then found his purpose in her life, the annoying busybody. He didn't ask intrusive questions but the way he kept badgering her with nonsense had grated her nerves that she almost threw her porridge on his face during breakfast.

Plus, he was attracting attention everywhere he went, which was usually by her side and that automatically meant that she was bound to get noticed as well.

She glared at Hiccup and Merida when they openly stared at them when Jack stacked the plastic spoons one on top of the other and whistled an upbeat tune, a bit too cheery for a place like this. Hiccup immediately turned his back on them but Merida held her ground, curiosity filled her light blue eyes and watched them with an unwavering stare, clearly not affected by her hostile front. Elsa decided she liked the brave and stubborn redhead.

She took the plastic cup and held the small flesh coloured pill before she popped it into her mouth and washed it down with water. Call her paranoid but she knew that the staff was always watching them; monitoring if they indeed were taking their medications. Sometimes she took them, sometimes she didn't. The side-effects gave her more suffering than her current 'ailment', at least she wasn't throwing up every few hours or clutching her head in agony as though it was being split open by a large chisel when she had her crying fits.

She bit the inside of her cheek when she remembered what day it was; Wednesday. And Wednesday meant group therapy sessions. A man wearing a doctor's coat walked in the eating area and clipboard on hand. Elsa never knew his name, didn't even remembered his face before Jack snickered in front of her and subtly pointed out the doctor's unusually bulbous head. It didn't fail to make her giggle as well. When they both realized that she made that sound, her face re-arranged itself to a blank stare.

No one except Anna heard her laugh like that before.

The group therapy room was large. Shale gray linoleum covered the floor and the walls were painted in a soft eggshell white. It turned out that there were quite a lot of shades of the said colour. Small wooden chairs were placed on the middle to form a circle and a rotating chair was smacked dab on the middle.

It was some sort of power play, she thought of it once when she first arrived here. Whoever gets the seat on the middle has the power, hence the freedom to ask anyone of anything but they can't easily extract the answers. Patients weren't required to answer any questions but it was mandatory to sit with the others and listen to their ordeal.

For the first time since she attended it, she actually listened to what the patients were in for. Merida had anger-management issues; a single off-comment will light up the bomb and she will just explode. The older man had schizophrenia, seeing his lost daughter; Alice in his mind's eye and imagined that they were having a tea party (which explained his peculiar fascination with the caffeine drink) and the twins were a bit loopy to begin with, they talk in strange garbled words that only they could understand. Hiccup had a nervous breakdown from psychological anxiety and it turned out that he admitted himself into the facility, which was rather brave of him to do.

There were some stories of other patients she didn't pay any attention to but when it was Jack's turn, the usually talkative boy clammed up. Dr. Mind, the bulging-headed doctor peered under his tortoise shell glasses to observe the white-haired teenager.

_Even she was staring at him._

"Err, Jack I know it's kinda scary at first especially when you're talking in front of other people but don't you worry, we're all friends here!" he confided.

His large smile was fake, she could see it and Jack might have as well because his frown didn't falter and he just shrugged, "I don't know why they brought me here. As far as I know... I'm the most normal guy in this group." His words had brought a tense atmosphere in the room; it was like almost everyone stopped breathing.

"Wait- the _'most normal guy'_, then what does that make the rest of us? _A couple of screw-ups_?!" Merida roared as she jumped to her feet with her fist poised to deliver a punch. Hiccup shrunk in his seat while the twins clapped at the possibility of a fight erupting.

Jack turned to her for help but she was glaring at him as well. The way he singled out himself from them with a tone, it was like he was calling them freaks and he was just there for the show. But as Merida took quick strides towards him, Elsa held up a hand, which (by some miracle) Merida heeded before she said, "You'll just waste your time and energy."

"_Donnae_ give me that pathetic excuse blondie, I'm gonna punch the daylight outta him!"

"You know that if you punch another patient, they'll put you back in solitary confinement."

The redhead bit back a snarl and stomped back to her seat, eyes glowering at Jack as sharp as knives before Dr. Mind, who was cowering behind his chair, cleared his throat and uttered "I think we'll just skip Jack's part today."

The boy gave out a burdened sigh as he relaxed in his seat but he kept stealing glances to her, which she promptly ignored. Elsa didn't protect him; she just saved herself from an oncoming migraine. The angry girl had an impressive set of lungs and her shouting had Elsa gripping the sides of her chair to fight off the headache.

She needed a pill... fast.

* * *

><p>"Uh... Elsa?"<p>

She tried to ignore him.

He softly knocked against the wall and spoke in a soft tone, "Elsa, c'mon talk to me."

Even when she had muffled that wall with her pillow and closed her eyes to sleep, his voice beckoned her to answer, to give him her undivided attention. There was something about him as a person that made it impossible for her to ignore. He had been here for a month now and she still can't shake him off. Even after that tiff he caused earlier (she was still sore with his off-handed comment) she hadn't completely shut him out like how she does to other people.

No matter how different they may seem, they found comfort in solitude. Whenever they (mostly he) found nothing else to talk about, silence would come but it wasn't awkward in any way.

With a defeated groan, she leaned her back against the wall. "What?" she huffed. He better not whine about what happened at the therapy room; he's not that stupid to not know that he earned a few enemies in there.

"... I wasn't lying when I told the quack that I have no idea why I'm here" he whispered, like there was a possibility that someone might overhear them.

Elsa rotated her head to get the blood flowing, "Are you saying you have amnesia? That's impossible, they don't put people with memory loss in here with... us."

There was a sound of a fabric shifting in his side and his voice was so close like he was standing right behind her. "I didn't mean to make such a mess back there. I can't really remember what I did to have me land in this place. One moment I was at my room looking at my ceiling, the next was a bunch of guys wearing white uniforms hauling me into a van while my mom... my mom was just crying outside our house."

There was a wave of empathy that made her press a palm against the wall, an unseen gesture of comfort. He sounded like a lost child; confused and distraught. She saw it, the very moment she looked at his face; she saw something she was quite used to, an unwanted friend.

_Loneliness_

* * *

><p>She knew Jack can hear what Belle was saying during her sessions but she wondered why she can't hear anyone other than Jack in his room. Does he not get any session at all? It wasn't like she was snooping but sometimes she was curious about his case. He must've known about Anna and her sudden bouts of depression by now, but she didn't know a single thing about him. Jack was silent in the duration of her sessions. There were times that he didn't say a single word at all as if he wasn't there until nightfall and she would find him sitting on their table picking at the white gauze with a lost look in his eyes. If he saw her enter the hall, his smile would click on like a switch and ask her what she will have for dinner. One thing she discovered about him was that he hated all vegetables except for the mashed potatoes because he said they don't look like potatoes at all.<p>

He sure loved apples though, seeing as he always tried to snatch hers even if he already has one. She reluctantly asked him why he was fixated by the fruit; all he said was that the colour reminded him of something he can't put his finger on.

The next day was miraculously better than she had expected. But then again, she was looking at the glass half-empty recently so this was a rather pleasant surprise. Merida didn't try and pick a fight with Jack and it was the first Saturday of that meant that meant one thing.

_Chocolate_

Each month they will be given desserts with their meal and she found out that this time, it was chocolate bars. The last time she had eaten one was right before the day Anna was scheduled to get onboard the train that will take her to the finishing school for girls.

Elsa remembered how she and Anna emptied the whole carton and their mouths were stained with the dark sweets but tears trickled from their eyes because they both know that they will be separated. If she closed her eyes for a little while, she could still feel the heat on her chest where Anna had rested her head and slept the whole night as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Chocolate's good and all but don't they have any licorice whips or even a bag of chips?"

Jack's voice caused her musings to vanish and she realized she was still inside the clinic. He was poking at the chocolate bar with his spoon, aware that she was watching him, before he placed the sweet into her tray.

She stared.

"You don't like chocolate?" she asked, mildly surprised to meet someone who'd just pass it to her like it was a small plate carrots. His eyes zeroed in on the rectangular object, he was thinking about something. The corners of his mouth twitched as though he was trying to say something but he shook his head and said,

"I dunno."

* * *

><p>The brunette lightly grinned as her eyes roamed over Elsa's sitting form. "Something is different about you" she commented, making Elsa raise a brow at her psychiatrist.<p>

"How can you tell that something's different?"

Belle clicked the top of her pen and leaned against her chair, legs crossed and clipboard on her lap. It was a sleepy afternoon; there was a fine drizzle of rain that made Elsa feel groggy and so far she hadn't had a single crying fit for the remainder of the week. It was odd but Belle was happy about it.

"There's a sparkle in your eyes" she replied, beaming widely as she wrote hastily on the paper.

Elsa lifted a hand to her eyes, expecting to touch a particle that gave the illusion of a starry-eyed girl. Belle hid a grin behind her hand as she cleared her throat.

"So, have you been taking your medicine?"

"Yes"

The psychiatrist paused for a moment, assessing if whether or not she was telling the truth before she nodded. "That's good. It's progress and if you keep it up, you'll be out of this place sooner than you think."

Elsa shifted in her bed; partly because she felt a knot form in her throat. As much as she wanted to see the bright side, all she could see was a dark tunnel that stretched as far as her eyes would permit but she didn't want to see Belle's disappointed face and breathed out, "I suppose so."

* * *

><p>Two months.<p>

It's been two months since Jack arrived but she still didn't know why he was here. His bandages were frayed, evident that he had been tugging on them and the shades around his eyes were darker. But despite his haggard appearance, he was still as upbeat as ever and goes on about his way. As much as Elsa wanted to deny it, she found ease in his company. The pace of activities was but a blur to her. They would talk about anything, be it on her- more accurately, _their_ table during meal times or in their rooms where they would share exchange stories of everything under the sun although it was more like he was initiating the conversation and she would offer her input on the matters.

Spending time with him had influenced her to take notice to others as well. Elsa found herself talking to Merida about the changing seasons and the definition of destiny or sometimes she would strike a conversation with Hiccup about geometry and the stars. Slowly, the four of them formed a friendship that was so odd, so dysfunctional that they somehow made it work.

But there was something between the two of them, like they had their own world. With him, she distracted herself from Anna, keeping her mind off of the fact that her parents never came to visit her for more than two months. Between the lines of friendship and insidious, she found herself struggling whether she just needed him for that purpose or she really did want his company.

People, in the end; will always weigh the need over the want, it was practical, it was realistic. But sometimes she can't help but compare her situation to a parasite's. She needed him, a necessity to distract herself from the harsh reality that surrounded her. She cherished the silence between them but she wasn't sure whether he was in the room or not. Whenever she cries in her sleep, he would tap against the wall and softly call out her name. Then she would curl up against the wall with the blanket covering her shaking body while he would stay awake with her till dawn came or until the relief of sleep would claim her.

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><p>It was like walking on eggshells with him. She needed to be cautious, careful to hide her sudden fits of depression or moodiness that would hold on to her in a certain period but he latched on to her like a leech. Elsa didn't know why he was so attached to her.<p>

It went on like that for a few days more like clockwork. They talked and shared knowing glances during group therapy and she was contented with that. But Jack just had to ruin, he just had to distort the pattern that made their frail and unusual friendship change towards something.

They were taking a break outside the facility since protocol demands that they should at least had the privilege to enjoy a fresh air outdoors every now and then. The winds were now cooler and the nights were freezing but she welcomed the drop of temperature. The cold never bothered her.

She couldn't remember what they were talking about- something about squirrels and the way their cheeks puffed out to store their food. She was watching a bird fly across the blue sky and she turned her head to him to reply at his theory before he did it.

_He kissed her._

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><p><em>AN: _As always, _**reviews are encouraged and appreciated**_.

I would love to thank the reviews from the previous chapter:

Guest 1 (anon)

Guest 2 (anon)

fireninjafox

Happypenguin117

Trapid (Guest) : And I thank you for those kind words.

For the readers of _Finne Min Senter_: I will update it by Saturday

And for _Iridescent_: I'm afraid I will have to delete this due to disinterest.


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